104 ECCE HOMO.

that he is doing injustice to his family and those de-
pendent 011 him.

This they might fluently and plausibly have urged.
But the judgment of Christ was upon them, making all
things seem new, and shining like the lightning from the
one end of heaven to the other. He was standing, it
would seem, in the centre of a circle, when the crime was
narrated, how the adultery had been detected in the very
act The shame of the deed itself, and the brazen hard-
ness of the prosecutors, the legality that had no justice
and did not even pretend to have mercy, the religions
malice that could make its advantage out of the fall and
ruin and ignominious death of a fellow-creature—all this
was eagerly and rudely thrust before his mind at once.
The effect, upon him was such us might have been produced
upon many since, but, perhaps upon scarcely any man that
ever lived before. He was seized with an intolerable sense
of shame, lie could not meet the eye of the crowd, or of
tho tianiscTs, and perhaps at that moment least of all of
the woman. Standing as he did in the midst of an eager
multitude that did not in the least appreciate his feelings,
ho could not escape. In his burning embarrassment and
confusion he stooped down so as to hide his face, and
began writing with his finger on the ground. His tor-
mentors continued their clamour, until he raised his head
for a moment and said, 'He that is without win among
you hit him first cast a stone at her,' and then instantly
returned to his former attitude. They had a glimpse
perhaps of the glowing blush upon his face, and awoke
suddenly with astonishment to a new sense of their con-
dition and their conduct. The older men naturally felt
it first and slunk away; the younger followed their ex-